Racket String Patterns

An issue that bothers me is the relationship between the number of strings[mains] and the assumption of how the racket will perform,
ie 18 mains = less spin
16 mains = more spin

However as a person who predominately plays with topspin I rely on the ability of the racket to induce spin, but what I have found is that the number of mains is not as important as the actual spacing of the strings, with some 16 main rackets having the strings as close together as an 18 main racket.
A few years ago I purchased a Head Radical Team 102 with a 16x19 pattern, but after playing with the racket for a while I realised is was not getting any more spin than the 18 mains racket I had swapped from, measurement of the spacing of the main strings revealed they were the same as the 18 mains racket confirming my feelings.
Below is a list if my rackets and the main string spacing
Rossignol Vectris 16x19 11.5mm
Prince 107 16x19 11 mm
Prince OS 16x19 10 mm
Head LM2 106 16x19 11.5 mm
HEAD RAD TEAM 102 16x19 10mm
Head LM rad 107 18x19 10mm
Head pres classic 18x20 10mm
Head rad tour 630 18x20 10mm
Head Ti 107 16x19 10mm

I was wondering if in future it would be possible to include the spacing measurement of the mains and horizontals to confirm whether or not the racket is actually an open string pattern or a dense string pattern so you are not just going on the number of strings which can be misleading.
As I said originally my Head Radical Team had the same spacing for ten of the mains as the 18 main rackets, the last couple of mains on the outside of the stringbed were spaced further apart but they are not going to be used
anyway

As I said originally, I would only expect it to be done on future reviews. The problem is that many 16M have a dense pattern for the middle 10 strings and then a much wider spacing for the remaining 3 strings on each side thus they play like an 18M racket. The spacings of the mains on many rackets is not even across the whole stringbed - just taking the number of mains as an indicator of how the racket will play can be very misleading.
Cheers Greg

My Head Radical Team has a 16x19 pattern.
The central mains are spaced at 10mm [the same as most head 18M]
The last mains [furthest out] are spaced at 18mm
As you can see the racket is basically an 18M racket with two mains missing from the outside of the stringbed.

(Margin of error: +/-.5MM)
(Please note that the 300 is the only racket with a 98 sq in head and has only 6 grommet holes in the throat as opposed to the others which have 95 sq in heads and 8 grommets holes in the throat.)

I realise, at first glance, there does not appear to be large difference between the smallest mains 9-10mm, and the largest at 11.5mm, but when you take into account the diameter of a tennis ball there is at LEAST one less main in contact with the ball with the wider pattern - 6 as opposed to 7, which I believe makes a noticeable difference in the feel and spin potential of the racket.
cheers Greg

I recommend using the distance between the 8 center mains (measured from center of the string).

A dense racquet might have about 70mm distance. A very open pattern can be up to 90mm distance.

Racquets also vary with the spacing of the crosses. For example, a Diablo mid and an RDS001 mp have mains spaced about the same, but the diablo has much dense crosses, making it much more accurate on volleys.

The introduction of the Prince 100P has made this thread relevant again. It's an 18x20 racquet but people are saying it has way more spin than you would expect from an 18x20. Makes me think the string spacing is quite wide. I'd like to know the measurements of this racquet if anyone can.